ABSTRACT

The contributions to this special issue interrogate and revise how social scientists, and in particular political scientists, study the Russian Federation and the independent states that emerged in the collapse of the Soviet empire. They are right to do so. Russia’s escalation of war shined a spotlight on critical research gaps and inaccurate assumptions. Yet, as the field discovered in the 1990s, a dramatic shift in research approaches and strategies does not imply tabula rasa. My contribution highlights the field's capacity to evolve and identify gaps, recognize dead ends, and adjust. Relying on insights from colleagues and lessons of the past 30 years, I argue that in opening our field and questioning its foundations we should take care to expand our discussions and research approaches rather than replace them, and to recognize lessons learned from existing research platforms and models of collaboration.

摘要

对本期特刊的贡献审视和修正了社会科学家，尤其是政治科学家如何研究俄罗斯联邦和苏联帝国崩溃后出现的独立国家。他们这样做是对的。俄罗斯战争的升级凸显了关键的研究差距和不准确的假设。然而，正如该领域在 1990 年代发现的那样，研究方法和策略的巨大转变并不意味着白板. 我的贡献突出了该领域发展和识别差距、识别死胡同和调整的能力。依靠同事的见解和过去 30 年的教训，我认为，在开放我们的领域并质疑其基础时，我们应该注意扩展我们的讨论和研究方法而不是取代它们，并认识到从现有研究平台和合作模式。